Car Insurance - Without Drive Assist!

dacouch

stevie19uk wrote: »

It suprises me that you are all moaning about Drive Assist's services

At the first point of contact, when the vehicle is being booked, you are explained fully what Drive Assist do.

Drive Assist is a credit hire service, which means that they will endevour to recover the costs back from the third party or their insurer. Their aim is not to recover it from you!

As you can also understand with the vehicles being brand new, then drive assist dont want scratches etc on their vehicles, and that any damage caused to the vehicle should be paid for becuase these vehicles are brand new.


You are told at the time of booking to check all the information and terms and conditions and rental agreement to make sure you understand and agree with it all - yet you do not look at all of this information and then complain that you wern't aware of it.

What Rose Tinted Glasses you have Steve, I hope everyone else at Drive Assist is not so blinkered as the amount of complaints about Drive Assist would indicate to any sensible person there are problems.

Do you not remember the episode of Watchdog that featured many many many problems with Drive Assist. They acknowledged they had problems and refunded a large number of Watchdog viewers who had complained.

Have a read of this thread on a forum that has many complaints about Drive Assist...
http://www.moneysupermarket.com/community/forums/t/car-hire-firm-reported-to-watchdog-14606.aspx


Or do a search of MSE there are plenty of posts about Drive Assist

Wake up and smell the coffee

uktyler

stevie19uk wrote: »

It suprises me that you are all moaning about Drive Assist's services

Steve, you have made three posts on MSE, all relating to Drive Assist, and all telling everyone how good they are.

Do you work for them?

Crowmanuk

I did actually smell troll after his post but with only 2 posts to my name I thought it premature to call it

dacouch

The amusing thing Crowmanuk is that people like Steve who work for companies that get a roasting on MSE and post complimentry posts only suceed in taking the post back to the top so more MSE members read it...He has resurrected a thread that has had no posts for a few weeks.

The best way to deal with people like that is to ensure the thread keeps coming up on MSE by posting on it. That way any potential customers of Drive Assist who are members of MSE are more likely to read the thread and be warned of them.

Crowmanuk feel free to post your experiences on Drive Assist again up here so anyone who reads it will see your experience of them

Crowmanuk

Thanks a lot mate, i'll keep it updated on what happens, letter is going into the financial ombudsman this weekend and the cheeky beggars at driveassist have asked for a copy of it! I told them that i'm dealing with the financial ombudsman now and they'd be getting in touch, wonder how much I should charge them for postage, copying and "administration" charges for a copy of the letter lol.

dacouch

They supposedly bucked their ideas up after they were on Watchdog about their dodgy practices a couple of years ago. Obviously not!

I bet they will sort your problem out very quickly now you have complained to the ombudsman.

mcjordi

well ithought id share my experiences with them too

i firstly got a vauxhall meriva when my corsa was hit in the side by a white man man back in 2005, i paid the cdw charge,couple of scuffs extra on the bumper, starter motor went and the vehicle was replaced had it for 8 weeks

then a young lad rear ended me in 2007 i was offered a 1.4 petrol vehicle but mine was diesel and told them i wanted a diesel i got a brand new fiat crappy punto 1.3 diesel after 2 days the central locking wouldnt work and the clutch was slipping aftr 100 miles, they replaced it with a fiesta which was keyed to hell, scuffs all over it and i made sure theyd recorded the fact on the pda
about 8 weeks after i got a letter stating they wanted £150 off me for the keying, after the first letter and phone call to them it was reduced to £90, then finally 18 months later they sent a letter stating no further action to be taken the account was closed

stevie19uk

Have you ever heard the expression " A bad customer service and you will tell plenty of friends, a good customer service you will tell a few "

And that's how it is. You are negative because of the bad experience you have received but you dont hear about the good experience that customers receive.

At the time of the booking you are explained to read all the terms and conditions and rental agreement and make sure you agree with those. I know if I was to sign for something I would check and make sure that I agree with what I am signing for!

uktyler

stevie19uk wrote: »

Have you ever heard the expression " A bad customer service and you will tell plenty of friends, a good customer service you will tell a few "

And that's how it is. You are negative because of the bad experience you have received but you dont hear about the good experience that customers receive.

At the time of the booking you are explained to read all the terms and conditions and rental agreement and make sure you agree with those. I know if I was to sign for something I would check and make sure that I agree with what I am signing for!

Does it say in the terms and conditions that your company might well bill you for damage done by someone else?

I can't see any praise for this company on MSE, except, unsuprisingly, from you, an employee.

dacouch

Steve you really have a blinkered view of drive assist, I assume you never saw the episode of Watchdog that featured them...they made a full apology and promised they would change the way they deal with customers and refunded a number of people. If they did not have a problem then they would not have apologised and I dare say Watchdog would not have featured them.

With regards to your statement "And that's how it is. You are negative because of the bad experience you have received but you dont hear about the good experience that customers receive" I and most people who have been trained in customer service by decent companied have also been taught this. The only difference appears that we are taught it to ensure we give good customer service as its easy to get a bad name as Drive Assist will no doubt know (Except you obviously). Mistakes happen in even the best run companies, these are opportunities to prove to the customer you can solve the mistake to their satisfaction. The next line they teach you in customer service is "We all make mistakes but when we make a mistake sort it out so the customer is happy, the customer will then know if anything goes wrong in the future it will be sorted out and they are stastically more likely to remain loyal than a normal customer" They must have ommited to teach Drive Assist staff this as all of the people who have had problems seem to have to either get Watchdog involved, the ombudsman, the FSA or take you to court.